This is the first post on this site. This post introduces the features of Japan.
You probably know already about Japan roughly. But let me show you again for confirmation.
The feature of Japan
The developed country in Asia
Japan is an economically prosperous country. It might be because Japan has not been colonized by any other country.
Overall, the country has low inequality and low crime, and the Japanese people are educated on average. Especially, they are good at calculation and mathematics but they also think they’re not good at them.
Although there are many challenges in Japan’s political and economic society, it’s peaceful because few radical issues arise.
Unique culture
Japan was closed to the world from 1639 to 1858.
Before 1639, Japan has been trading with the countries in the region are now the Netherlands, Portugal, China, and Korea.
Of course, these countries’ cultures influence Japanese culture until then.
Japanese culture is continued for over 2000 years without being controlled by other countries or cultures. The Japanese emperor was passed down through the generations over 2000 years. Moreover, Japan has a very old civilization, possibly even older than China, although documents and data are still scarce. It is on research still now.
In the closed period, Japanese culture thrived more interesting and sophisticating.
Unique religious faith
The Japanese inherit their original faith: Shinto. Buddhism coming from India via China is taken into the Shinto faith.
Some researchers consider Shinto just animism, but the faith is probably also mixed with Jewish and Chinese thought, it is not simply explained.
Nowadays, Shinto and Buddhism are treated as different things. But the two were mixed into one thing until opening the country. Japanese people believed in one religion until then.
Today’s Japanese have been made religion-unconscious by the postwar United States, but the Japanese are very religiously conscious people even though they do not believe in religion.
I think the religious spirit is ingrained in the customs of Japan.
The special language
Japanese has a few relations with other nearest countries’ languages.
As you know, Japanese contains Chinese characters, Kanji. The Japanese took them into their language partly in history. So the origin of the Japanese language is still a mystery.
Recently, there is a possibility that the Japanese language has a relation with ancient Hebrew.
Japanese is said to be linguistically difficult, but I think it is a language with a lot of variation in the way it is expressed, allowing for individuality and a wealth of emotion.
The highly credible passport
Thanks to People of a bygone age, Japanese people have credit for other countries.
Currently, there are about 190 countries Japanese people can go to with no visa. And I feel Japanese people are in a position to be relatively friendly to other people from other countries.
This is really thanks to the Japanese people who are protecting the credibility of Japan as a whole.
Famous things about Japan
I seem foreign people feel that Japanese cultures are cool!
In these few decades, animation and cartoons (manga) are getting popular generally.
Animations, Cartoons, and Cosplay
Japanese anime and manga are popular overseas. The number of people who can be called enthusiastic otaku has also increased.
In Japan, there are children and adults in general who watch anime and read manga, even if they are not otaku.
However, sometimes the manga and anime that are popular in Japan and those that are popular in other countries are different, which sometimes surprises even Japanese people.
Cosplay is the act of imitating the appearance of an anime or manga character.
NARUTO Officialsiteより引用
https://naruto-official.com/
Samurai and Ninja
The Samurai and Ninja in Japanese history will not look or work like anyone else anywhere in the world. It is very unique and mysterious.
I think they are well-known for their movies and animations.
However, a ninja is not as popular in Japan as they are in other countries. As a matter of course, Japanese people have known them since they were a child and ended up playing ninja as a child.
Japanese food
A wide variety of Japanese foods are popular for their health benefits.
Buddhist vegetarian food at temples and Japanese one-soup-three-course meals are said to prevent obesity because they are nutritious and contain few calories.
There are many types of noodles and menus such as ramen, curry, udon, and soba, as well as many unique Japanese menus and recipes. There are also many restaurants offering dishes from other countries arranged for the Japanese!
The best feature, however, is Japanese rice, which is rarely available overseas. The white, shiny, fluffy rice is more delicious and softer than rice from any other country.
The accuracy of time
Japanese people are trained to be overly punctual.
At school, students are taught to be 5 or 10 minutes early.
If a train is one minute late, an announcement is made at the station, which is unexpected in other countries.
Badly famous things in Japan
KAROSHI, the death by overworking
I was asked by other countries’ people before,
“Japanese workers are so busy, aren’t you? And I have heard “Karoshi”.
In other countries, people thought that death from hard work would be an unbelievable happening because they wouldn’t think to devote their lives to their work.
In 2021, 59 people were actually judged to have died from overwork. There seem to be about twice as many more people claiming overwork, but it’s hard to determine if it’s due to work or otherwise.
In a recent Japanese company, which has a legal system of lifetime employment in Japan but also requires competence, employees are judged in large part by their dedication to the company.
Japanese people assume that they are finally considered respectable adults when they can take responsibility for their work. I believe that the Japanese culture respects the mastery of one’s work, due in part to the cultural background of the craftsmanship of the Japanese people.
Aging society, longevity
Japanese people live a long time, and the average age of death is 89 for women, and 79 for men now. The rapid increase in average life expectancy has created an impossibility in the social security system structure.
While it may be one of humanity’s hopes that more people will live long and healthy lives, the current problem is that some people are forced to live long, bedridden lives due to medical procedures and are unable to suspend medical treatment based on ethical considerations.
But it is also true that there are tens of thousands of people who live to be over 100 years old and in good health.
HIKIKOMORI, people who withdraw from society
It refers mainly to people who feel stressed about their relationships or work, or who spend time away from home because they do not find enjoyment in it.
Although the number of people who work from home has been increasing recently, some people remain shut-ins for decades, relying on their parent’s income and continuing to live in their parents’ home. In Japan, it is relatively possible to live without leaving home because food and other necessities can be purchased quickly through home delivery services.
Comments